We request partial support for the 5th National Meeting of the American Society for Matrix Biology (ASMB), to be held at the Francis Marion Hotel, Charleston, SC on October 24-27, 2010. The 5th ASMB meeting builds on the success of the previous meeting, which drew over 400 participants from diverse fields, in academia and industry, spent 4 days of intense discussion and exchange of ideas on the broad topic of matrix biology. We intend to expand on that success. To this end we have assembled a plenary program consisting of distinguished scientists from diverse areas that impinge directly or indirectly on extracellular matrix (ECM) biology. The meeting will open with a Keynote Address by Dr. Elaine Fuchs, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, who will talk on stem cells, ECM, and cancer in skin. The following 3 days will consist of four Plenary Sessions and six blocks of three Concurrent Sessions, focused on topics such as ECM-Cell Interactions, ECM Disease Mechanisms, Development and Morphogenesis, Engineered ECMs, ECM Proteins and the Musculoskeletal System, Genetic Diseases, and much more. Sessions will include speakers from diverse fields to promote cross-fertilization of ideas. The ASMB is a unique convocation of the varied, specialized disciplines that have developed out of matrix biology. Unlike large society meetings, the ASMB meeting has a dominant theme, and unlike symposia it strives to encompass all permutations on this theme, including emerging issues, not-ready-for-prime-time topics, and exciting new areas of research. In particular, this meeting will emphasize state of the art technologies that can answer questions pertinent to ECM biology and pathology that could not be tackled with existing methodologies. In summary, the ASMB meeting provides an exclusive opportunity for interested scientists to meet in a concentrated forum. This is true not only for established investigators but also for young scientists and students, including minorities, on whose participation we place great emphasis.